God’s Love Changes Lives

November 12, 2020 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

It is the most powerful thing in our world. Nothing can compare to it…no matter where you are, no matter what has happened or is happening…God’s love can change what you believe is impossible. Trust Him, seek His Word, believe, confess your sins and surrender you ways for His way. Amen.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

1 John 4:7-11

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“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

1 John 4:12

(This photo was taken in July of 2016 in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming)

Honor Those Who Have Served

November 11, 2020 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

John 15:12-13

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

1 John 3:16

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“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45

(This photo was taken in July of 2016 at the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming)

His Love Endures Forever

November 4, 2020 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
⁹He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹²as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

Psalm 103:8-12

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“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.”

Psalm 136:1

(This photo was taken in June of 2013 while traveling in northern Colorado)

Love In Action

November 2, 2020 / mcalcagno / 2 Comments

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

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“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

(This photo was taken in April of 2020 at a lake near Plymouth, Minnesota)

The Love Of Christ

October 29, 2020 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family^[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 3:14-21

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“They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” ³³He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ³⁴“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

³⁵Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ³⁶“Abba,^[a] Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Mark 14:32-36

(This photo was taken in June of 2013 near Pike’s Peak in southern Colorado)

In The Midst Of The Storm

October 25, 2020 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

No matter what is happening…no matter what has gone wrong in your eyes…our God has promised to never leave you and never to abandon you, so don’t turn away from Him…don’t ignore Him…seek Him because He is waiting to hear from you always…even in the midst of the storm. Amen.

Praise You In This Storm by Casting Crowns

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“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

⁸Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

1 Peter 5:6-9

(This photo was taken in July of 2016 in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming)

Overcome Trouble And Sorrow

October 20, 2020 / mcalcagno / 2 Comments

The bible tells us in this life we will have trouble and sorrow…it states very clearly that life is hard. Yet we still have hope and can be encouraged because Jesus Christ came into this world and sacrificed Himself to assure that we can have a relationship with God. Do not be overcome by trouble and sorrow…overcome these things with faith. Amen.

“Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”

Psalm 90:10

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

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“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[d] (which means “God with us”).”

Matthew 1:18-22

(This photo was taken in September of 2016 at a lake in central Minnesota)

Come To Repentance

October 13, 2020 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

We are so quick to judge others, yet that is not our purpose. We were created out of God’s love to do good things…how we respond to His love will determine how we will be judged. Come to repentance and you will find peace. Amen.

“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. ²Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. ³So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ⁴Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”

Romans 2:1-4

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“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3:8-9

(This photo was taken in April of 2020 at a lake near Plymouth, Minnesota)

The Word Became Flesh

October 11, 2020 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.

⁶There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

⁹The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹²Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

John 1:1-13

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“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:14

(This photo was taken in June of 2013 at The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota)